Man probed in AC deaths to plead guilty in other case

A handyman who was investigated in connection with the deaths of four prostitutes whose bodies were found in a ditch behind a string of seedy motels outside Atlantic City last year plans to plead guilty Friday in an unrelated case.

Noah K. Murray/The Star-LedgerTerry Oleson during court in June.

Terry Oleson has been held in the Salem County Jail since April 6, when he was charged with invasion of privacy for allegedly secretly videotaping a naked 15-year-old girl four separate times in November 2005 in his Salem County home.

But because he had stayed briefly in an Egg Harbor Township motel next to where the bodies of the dead hookers were found last November, authorities questioned him in that case, and obtained DNA samples from him.

His lawyer, James Leonard, has denied that Oleson had anything to do with the women's deaths and has said that another man confessed to killing the women.

Leonard said Oleson plans to plead guilty on Friday in state Superior Court in Salem County to reduced charges in the videotaping case and avoid a prison term. Oleson is scheduled to appear in court at 1:30 p.m.

"We are going there tomorrow (Friday) with the intention of entering a guilty plea and resolving his criminal charges," Leonard said.

Atlantic County prosecutors have never labeled Oleson a suspect in the hooker deaths, and refused to comment after Leonard gave them recordings of telephone calls in which another man supposedly confesses to the crimes. The Associated Press is not naming the man because he has not been charged in the case.

"As far as we are concerned, Mr. Oleson is a Salem County subject," said Pam Keelan, a spokeswoman for the Atlantic County Prosecutor's Office. She declined further comment.

A spokesman for the Salem County prosecutor's office did not immediately return a call seeking comment this afternoon.